Wait is over for fast fingerprints

Wait is over for fast fingerprints

Stan Howe photo

Barrie Police Service Staff Sgt. Bryan Daley uses the new fingerprinting machine. Electronic fingerprinting will help speed up the process of doing background checks for people volunteering in our community.

Live Scan

Stan Howe photo

Live Scan

Stan Howe photo

Live Scan

BARRIE - Volunteer soccer coaches, school chaperones or long-term care workers can get on with their jobs after a new fingerprint machine was installed at the Barrie police station in October.
Within only a week, Barrie police Staff Sgt. Bryan Daley is able to give residents what they’ve had to wait six months for before – a chance to volunteer or get a job, when it requires a criminal background check.
“LiveScan will be huge for turnaround time,” said Daley.
The machine looks like a photocopier, and uses a glowing green screen to capture residents’ fingerprints.
It’s not new technology – several other police forces already use the LiveScan program, including York Regional Police and Toronto Police.
But at $30,000 a pop for the machines, there was a delay in getting the technology here.
Two LiveScan machines arrived at the beginning of the year, and the force was learning how to use them and debating a price to charge the public.
A fingerprint request may come up if someone applies to have a vulnerable sector check done.
A vulnerable sector check compares the sex and birthdate of all Canadians who are pardoned sex offenders.
For example, someone convicted of manslaughter like Karla Homolka was able to change her name to Leanne Teal, but her fingerprints would still be on file.
If a Barrie woman has the same birthdate, she would need to provide fingerprints to confirm her identity.
In the past, inked fingerprints were sent to the RCMP in Ottawa, where they physically compared fingerprints of sex offenders on file.
The RCMP’s response back could take as long as six months, said Daley.
In many cases, it meant residents would have to wait before they volunteered and might have lost a job opportunity.
“I know how people were feeling. I coach basketball,” said Daley.
With LiveScan, Barrie police email the fingerprints directly to the RCMP, with the results being mailed back - for now.
“(We hope) in a couple of months they’ll send it back electronically,” said Daley.
Daley is already impressed with the efficiency of the new system.
“I had one (applicant) who wanted to volunteer with Big Brothers Big Sisters and it took longer than six months for him to get his results back.”
But now, last week, Daley got results back for a man who wanted to be a Sinton bus driver in six days.
Daley said there is still a backlog of applications in the system, which are being done the ‘old fashioned’ way.
But any new applications that need fingerprints are done with LiveScan.
Police aren't usually able to fingerprint the same day an application is made, but appointments are being booked within the week, said Daley.
Having the new system comes at a price, and the cost of a fingerprint check, if needed for employment, will run $100. That consists of a $40 criminal record check application fee, a $35 fingerprinting fee and a $25 RCMP fee.
If you’re volunteering and have a supporting letter, a fingerprint scan will cost $35.
Anyone getting a fingerprint scan will also have a photograph of their face taken to accompany their fingerprints to the RCMP.
Daley said civilian staff from the Barrie police forensic office will still do background checks for other criminal convictions like drunk driving, non-payment of child support or fraud, which is needed for a criminal record check.
Once the information is sent back to the resident, the RCMP says it destroys people's fingerprints after 90 days, and they are not added to the RCMP repository.
Daley said for now, the LiveScan machine is only being used for record checks, but in the future would be used when booking criminal charges at the station.
Local security business Commissionaires on Bell Farm Road has offered digital fingerprint technology for some time, also charging a cost for the service.